What many Kiwis forget is in Australia superannuation is compulsory over and above your salary, in just 16 years I now have nearly 170k of Super which I would never have in NZ
When I moved from Auckland to Sydney, my salary increased by 65%. The other thing to consider is that Australia has many more mid to upper salary jobs vs NZ. There were very few jobs at my experience level in Auckland, but there are so many in Sydney. Also, the superannuation rate is much higher in Australia. After 7 years, I now earn double what I earned in Auckland. It's hard to imagine going back to NZ.
I moved from NZ to Aus in 2011 and doubled my wage. Things were a little cheaper because of the exchange rate too. Then I went mining and doubled my income again, and my annual tax bill was basically the same as my old NZ salary. With inflation, things seem like the price of NZ when I left, but our wages have gone up too. If I never left my small NZ town, there's no way I'd have built a brand new house and have a ton of equity by 30.
@@khankake9576 yeah, it is. Christchurch might have over 400,000 people, but that’s small fry on the world scale. It’s a great city, I personally love it there, but it ain’t no big city. And frankly Auckland has all the problems of a big city, with almost none of the benefits.
Thanks Brent. The difference would be even larger when you consider many Australian organisations offer salary packaging which means some employee expenses can be paid out of pre-tax income, further reducing tax burden.
I love the way you quote your sources and have an overall academic approach to representing your information, really good to see and intellectual making videos like these instead of the norm.
Australia would have to be poorly run for it to have wages as low as New Zealand. There is something to be said about having mountains of coal, iron, gas and gold that puts Australia ahead of most countries, including NZ. It's been this way since the early 1970's. I think NZ manages very well all thing considered. In the 1980's the Australian dollar could buy NZ$1.25. Today the Aussie will buy just NZ$1.08. Travelling around Tasmania paints the opposite picture however. The wealth tends to be a bit regional. Visit those areas where the mines are and things look bleak. The wealth is very much in the big cities and some coastal resort areas. The two countries have very mobile populations. If however, we compare either country with how we were 50 years ago, I think we are going pretty well and likewise if we compare either country with any other country outside the rest of the 10% of the western world, we are comfortable. The biggest problem we have is debt. We live on borrowed money. I visited a small town in India recently and wondered why their homes are so cheap. My conclusion is that they don't or can't borrow. So they can build a reasonable home for $20,000. We would built a comparable home for $500,000. We borrow because we can and it's a competive world here, so we mortgage ourselves to the max, why? Because we can. We can blame shopkeepers or trademan, but they have their mortgages as well. We are all in the usury game together.
@@Sam-k271 I have passive income of 200k/yr so im not really bothered by costs here. One bedder apartment here is $550 which is still 10% less than I was paying in Aus. Its not an easy place to live if you're on min wage though that's for sure
I’ve lived and worked in both countries. In my experience I was far better off in Australia. My income was better in Australia and costs of living far less. Taxation rates and rebates were far better in Australia.
NZ is better if you're spectacularly wealthy and earning most of your income from capital gains since there's unusually no CGT in NZ. Of course the absence of that tax means everyone else has to pay more or get less services.
Interesting but i think especially in this case a median is more useful. Australia having a high population and bigger economy means that the very high income earners are more numerous and earn a lot more, dragging up the average. Most people are going to look at the averages and think they are getting screwed. There are a lot more people earning less than the average than more. There is also a smaller varience from lowest incom earners to average income earners that from average income earners to the highest income earners.
@@BrentColeman In 2 seconds of research?: www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/labour-market-statistics-income-june-2023-quarter www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/earnings-and-working-conditions/personal-income-australia/latest-release Median is reported in both countries.
These sources of data don’t break down age and whether part time workers are included. I only looked at full time employees. The Aussie data is from 2020/21 too
Subscribed. I have a 3year goal of leaving NZ for Oz. I have 3 children, 2 are full time working - 1 is in an apprenticeship for welding, machining and fabricating, the other is working but has Diplomas in coding etc and my youngest wants to be Chef. My daughter recently came back from Melbourne and came back with answers to all my questions but you have provided a more indepth prospective. Thank you. I love NZ but it just is not the place to grow financially and is very limited in its work progress and affordability.
I have lived in NZ and I am now in Australia. My Salary in Australia is higher, but my expenses are more Higher too. Especially if you compare Sydney with Auckland. For families, Australia is even worse: The cost of Childcare is almost double that in NZ. In summary, if you focus just on income, that would not give you the full picture. Australia offers more opportunities than NZ, that is true and that is the reason why many Kiwis move to Australia, but when they are here they realize that they need to make much more money than they originally thought. A Studio apartment in the Sydney CBD is around 1000 $ a week, for that money you can rent a much bigger apartment in Auckland.
if you want to live in Sydney CBD - better do not come to Australia at all, it is not made for this. As soon as you move 5 km out of CBD prices become twice less. Good 1br in my house, Wolli Creek, 500m from airport, 15 min from city, costs 650. Old studio in Rozelle, literally 1 bus stop from Townhall, where I used to live 7 years ago costs 450.
One thing to consider that was not spoken of, housing costs. Prices here are at an all time high and not slowing. I uesed to pay about 30% of my pension in rent 3 years ago. Now it is over 60%. You would need 2 people working full time at least to pay off a house. Maybe even both working a second job.
I genuinely thought New Zealand was closer in comparison to Australia...I knew generally the wages were slightly lower and the currency was just a tad lower but it really does add up.
Seems to be,quite a few Aussie's moving this way,sick of the backstabbing shite show over there, can't get over how chilled we are,compared to what they've put up, didn't care about the wages,just glad to have time to breath,time with the kid's,and space to run,walk swim,and nothing to bite or kill you,in the bush,or river's
The average commute time to work in Australia is over double compared to NZ. Childrens team sports fees are 5 times more expensive in Aus and Car registration is over 3 times more
Governments since Douglas wanted lower wages. Why, so 'they' can be richer basically. It takes years to stuff a country. Sold off the asset silver too.
As others have stated the comparison doesn't include how much more Australians have to pay for Housing in the capital cities, and stamp duty tax on that housing, capital gains tax, fees in general like car registration is over 15 times more expensive. Everything is means test including pension. New Zealanders also get the added benefit of Working for Families. The list goes on and on.
how long did you want the video? Maybe you should do the video. Did you forget to add you actually get a tax return from Australia? Or you can claim certain work expenses....I like the 5000 km on personal vehicle use for work.
The video title is about salaries, not the cost of living. I made another video covering the cost of living between Auckland and Sydney, but it's a wee bit out of date now ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1BDDYgQh8NM.html
@@GM-fx2jo Personal vehicle use for work only really works for people using it 'during' the work day (eg from site to site) it doesn't apply from home to work. If you work more than 80% for one employer you lose a lot of the deductions. My last 'return' was a bill, and that was despite working from an employer who's supposed to cover it all, because of tax I had to pay additionally on share capital gains. Capital gains tax is a big one, the absence of that in NZ means very wealthy people pay much much less in NZ. While everyone else has to pay more or get less to make up for that.
The wages maybe higher and workers have better rights but where are you going to live? All of Aussie is in the middle of a Diabolical rental crisis Sydney for instance 300 prospective renters up against each other for one shitbox worth $860pw and the lack of housing supply. Plus aussie employers ignore job applications (even from Aussies) its all about nepotism there not skill. I moved back to New Zealand 8 weeks ago. NZ ain't perfect no country is but I'm glad to be back in a country where it took me 3 days to find a job after arriving home instead of 3 months when I moved over to Aussie in 2022. No plans to move back in the foreseeable future
Easy one to determine, go to Seek NZ enter your parameters enough employers will enter a wage/salary to arrive at an average. Repeat same exercise with Seek AU and get your answer. My own research in this area indicates to me about a 20% advantage to Australia. Add in the fact that fuel prices are about two thirds or less of the NZ prices(funny how just shipping fuel across the Tasman causes the price to rise in the order of 50%) then note that the super contributions over there are required to be three plus times the NZ minimum and that super is not the political football it is in NZ. When you go over look around the little suburban shopping centre see all the independently owned retail businesses, only possible because the man in the street has more disposable in his pocket and all those service clubs survive for the same reason.
Australia for sure. Higher wages. The median average adult wage in NZ is only $30/hr. Australia also has cheaper retail cheaper cars due to Australia having a larger economy. New Zealand is in the cost of living crisis where even the middle class are struggling financially. Even our own cereal is cheaper in Australia.
Interesting that although income and tax revenue are considerably higher in AU, so is both public and private debt ratios. No one seems to ask when is enough, enough? Actually it seems the more you have, the more you want.
I can work the exact same job, same team, etc. Will get a 30k increase. Just insane. Aussie is cheaper too outside of Sydney. They keep telling me Melbourne, Brisbane etc. Are having a housing crisis. Lol its still better than Auckland.
The tax is much higher too, cost of living keeps going up, you're living pay cheque by pay cheque every month with nothing left in your bank account for emergency when you car breaks down, need a tooth done....
Australia is much more expensive too live in with rent and general living now days.. Supermarkets are not any cheeper like it was 10 yesrs ago. NZ wages are not much different to Aust now days... NZ has closed the gap alot between Australia....
I live in Australia and the 100k+ figures U list per annum would be the salary for someone who is in managerial level style jobs. So many of us are below that level. I work in call centre and they pay min wage (which is normal for style of work) and I get just under 32 dollar an hour. I can't see how this info is accurate because I don't know anyone under managerial level getting the type of figures you stated.
Definitely not getting paid min wage. That’s more like Maccas’ $23ph. You can go to so many higher earning jobs after biding time in a call centre. Good luck mate
Nope. I am security technician, absolutely no managerial tasks, and have well above 100K. 100K I had in Adelaide until my company there collapsed, so I returned back to Sydney to my old company with significant pay rise. Just do not work on positions where you can be swapped with anybody from the street in 1 week.
Whether salaries are higher or lower is maybe a discussion in NZ but the fact is Aussies dont really care what kiwis are earning because we dont go over there chasing money we usually go there as tourists.
@BrentColeman you must be living under a rock if you didn't know Australia is light years ahead of the crap nz economy. I left nz 20 years ago when the average nz salary was 36k and Australias was 56k nothing had changed. I don't know any kiwis here that don't make over 150k....how many kiwis do you know in nz that make that? meanwhile the most educated ambitious kiwis leave and the government imports low skill manual labourers and uber drivers..nz is well on its way to becoming a third world
@bobherbert4365 yes, Australia is about 6month to a year behind nz economy in terms of recession and housing issues due to massive migrant influx...BUT Australia has mining.
@@jonv570 While I'm sure it's higher than NZ, the median full time earnings in Australia even for men, is $1692/week. So half the men earn under $88k. www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/earnings-and-working-conditions/employee-earnings/latest-release. Both sexes median yearly income is $83,200. Not terrible, but the bottom 90% of earners make less than $147k AUD. The bottom 75% make less than $103k AUD / $112k NZD. So your social circle is small if you don't know kiwi's earning less than $150k. I barely know anyone of any nationality that makes that much in Australia that isn't senior management, runs their own business or works 80 hours a week.
Avarage income per week for Australians age 21-34 is $1700!? No way in hell can that be right. I think you need to compare the median not the average as like someones already stated, theres a lot more mid-high salary jobs in Australia.
Agreed, unfortunately they don’t release the median data in such a granular fashion. The AU Stats lump in part time workers and all ages into their figures
Australia has been in the top handful of countries in wealth per capita for a long time. It’s really a weird almost racial thing to compare the two countries. Yes, they are both ex British colonies, but vastly different countries. I’m in Perth, a middle management position, living pay check to pay check. Give me NZ people and geography any day. Seriously considering moving. Life is more than money.
Even Oz mouse traps are bigger ! 12 can get de-brained in one snap fest. Single in NZ Even so, it's music when it plays. And a little final tap dance from the critters . Nice
@@ingloriousbasterd6088 yeah, kinda concerned about that. I have work already lined up so know what I’ll be earning, so that allows me to budget correctly and find a place that suits, but it’s a big concern I will readily admit.
I’m originally from NZ and been in OZ for 12 years. There’s absolutely zero comparison. The pays for the average person here in OZ can easily make 50% more here. But ALL my Nephews, nieces , sons cousins all from NZ now here in OZ make double to Triple what they were making in NZ. Don’t care what the Stats say. No normal Kiwi in their 20s makes $50 $110 an hour. Every single one of my younger family do.
Idk how you came to the conclusion that Australia has lower tax rates The only times this is true is when you look at Australians earning less then 18k per year.
It's in the video, side by side. The Australian 19% and 32.5% rates are dropping in a couple months time, pushing them well below the NZ rates. On the current tax rates, between $70-120k the rates are lower in Australia too (32.5% vs 33%).
Wow, employers match 11% in AU? Any clue how that would work if you worked remotely for a company in AU that did that? Can Kiwis sign up for Super? Or can AU employers pay to KiwiSaver?
what are you talking about? they don't match anything. It's compulsory for a employer to put 11% of your wage into a syper account for everyone they employ there is no matching, you can put additional money in but there is a tax free threshold.
Correct, it's 11% on top of your salary, no matching required. Rising to 12% next year. You'll need to work for an Australian employer, they won't pay into KiwiSaver. Hope this helps!
@@obalisk990 whoa, even if we just work remotely for an Au company? Tried to do some digger last night but fell asleep before I could find anything official.
Including exchange rates makes no sense whatsoever, if you live in Australia you buy with Australian money, if you live in NZ you buy with NZ money. Also you considered upcoming changes to the income bracket taxes in Australia but didnt consider the ones from NZ. I don't have a stake on either side, but just pointing out some flaws. Income is also kind of a useless thing to compare at the end of the day what matters is cost of living, really (which NZ may well fall short, but again, just pointing out the glaring obvious)
Income and cost of living need to be considered. I'd rather get paid more in a HCOL are than the other way around. Then you'll have more purchasing power when traveling or moving.
I’m not quite understanding your points. If I move to the US and earn the same nominal wage but in USD, is that not more valuable? Also, New Zealand has not had a change in income brackets, it was an election promise that has not been announced nor delivered. Best hope is an announcement in May’s budget. Australia’s change in tax thresholds are locked in for the next tax year
@@BrentColeman "If I move to the US and earn the same nominal wage but in USD, is that not more valuable?" not really, why would it? Let me try to explain: If you earn 3k per month in USD, spend 1k a month in USD in rent, 1k in food and bills, and another 1k in discretionaries , car, transport etc you are left with 0 dollars left If you earn 3k per month in NZD and spend 1k a month in NZD in rent, 1k in food and bills, and another k in discretionaries, car, transport etc you are still left with 0 dollars left Conversely: If you earn 3k per month in USD and spend 1k a month in USD in rent, 1k in food and bills, and everything else cost you 1000, you are left with 0 If you earn 3k per month in NZD and spend 1k a month in NZD in rent, 1k in food and bills, and everything else ends up costing you only 500 you are left with 500 USD is definitely more valuable than NZD, but if the cost of living in the US is higher, I'm left worse off than I would be in NZ. This is just hypotheticals of course, I suspect cost of living in NZ is far worse than US
@@BrentColeman Lastly, I think if the government doesn't deliver the tax cuts they are as good as gone, it was a huge part of their campaign trail, I'm sure it will come through, specially given current pressures and they confirm it's coming every chance they get, but fair call, it's an egg that hasn't hatched
Looking at the wages in Nz & Aus alot good if compare to working class in Brazil 290usd for unskilled And retired ppl mostly . Brazil to get paid well u must be a Manager/iT area/ Tech ppl been paid 2200usd. Or must having ur very Trade to runs. Sth american nations always poor payments , When lived in Cnd saw that unskilled getting paid 1770$ ,Maids,hotel pages Not canadians .
Only if you spend your entire income! If you're not living paycheck to paycheck you still come away much better. For example, spending 80% of a NZ$100k income is NZ$20k annual savings. If we increase income and spending by 20% in Australia (AU$120k and AU$96k) then savings have increased by 20%+ (from NZ$20k p.a. to AU$24k p.a.) and it's now in AUD (+10% extra on the currency exchange).
@@BrentColeman true but I read on another video by a Kiwi that NZ life cannot be measured on financial parameter only. There is more to NZ than just money. Probably that is the reason why out of 5 million kiwis, lot of middle class kiwi citizens still live there even though they can take a flight to Aus anytime
Yes you're right, there are many factors that contribute to people's decisions where to live. New Zealand is a great country, but unfortunately many now find it hard to afford the costs of living here. Australia has experienced the same kinds of changes in the cost of living, but when weighing up the pros and cons many have still decided to make the move.
@@BrentColeman when water will go above head i.e. NZ govt will start feeling the pinch of losing kiwi citizens to Aus, then they will take steps to retain Kiwis in Kiwi land 😎
Until your government and premier's ask NZ people to move over, especially our teacher's nurse's and doctor's, Looking for a better living they screen all over our TV's,move to Australia,
Good video and a big supporter of chase the $$$ as you can typically find a cool lifestyle in most well paying countries and it can get you ahead of the game much quicker = options!! Me in 1990. working in the Waikato at age 22. If i want to earn more money i would need to move to Auckland.. But i dont know anyone in Auckland!!!!! Someone said i could earn even more money in London. But i dont know anyone in London!!!!!. So i moved to London (when it was 3:1 nzd:stg). The other benefit of earning a stronger currency is it really makes you think about the opportunity spend versus the opportunity save/invest as you convert it back to NZD. Never did return to NZ to work. Asia has been home for past 23 years. Financially sorted quite a while back!!